Combined material scraper and air current diverter for cereal grinding roller mills



. H. SUGDEN July 4, 1961 NDING ROLLER MILLS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 L SCRAPE ND AIR CURRENT AL GRI G COMBINED MATERIA DIVERTER FOR CERE Filed Aug. 1'7. 1959 l'zzventor G. H. SUGDEN ERIAL S CEREAL 2 9 1 m 0 m 11 S 9 .r OW e 2 h mw n1 WM C R July 4, 1961 COMBINED MAT CRAPER AND AIR DIVERTER FOR GRINDING ROLLE Filed Aug. 17, 1959 United State ate COMBINED MATERIAL SCRAPER AN!) AIR CUR- RENT DIVERT-ER FOR CEREAL GRINDING I ROLLER MILLS V George Highley Sugtlen, Chapel-en-le-Frith, England, assignbr to Henry Simon Limited, a company of Great Britain Filed Aug. 17, 1959, Ser. No. 834,320 Claims priority, application Great Britain Aug. 22, 1958 w 4 Claims. (Cl. 241-112) This inventionrelates to roller mills for grinding cereal products and is particularly directed to the dual functions of maintaining the grinding surfaces of the said rolls in a suitable condition for eflicient grinding and of protecting the stream of input materials flowing into the nip of the grinding rolls from being disturbed by parasitic air currents generated by the motion of the roll surfaces.

In the grinding of cereal products in roller mills having grinding rolls with substantially smooth grinding surfaces, it is common experience that unless measures are taken to prevent ground materials from adhering to a roll surface, such materials tend to build up to form continuous bands round a roll, forcing the nip to open and preventing the rolls from performing their normal function. It is usual therefore to provide, at positions near the exit from the nip of the rolls, scrapers or brushes to remove adherent materials from the roll surfaces, such scrapers or brushes usually being mounted on self-adjusting means which maintain them either in contact with, or in extremely close proximity to, the surfaces of associated grinding rolls.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved roller mill wherein the dual functions of preventing the flow of materials to the grinding rolls from being disturbed by parasitic air currents, and removing adherent materials from the peripheral surface of a grind-, ing roll, are performed by a single scraper deflector unit.

The invention consists in a roller mill for grinding cereal products having a scraper deflector extending across a grinding roll of a pair with its scraper edge adjacent to the roll surface at a short distance from the input side of the nip of the pair of rolls, so that it removes from the roll surface any ground materials adhering thereto and means beyond said scraper deflector to divert such removed materials towards the nip of the rolls whilst diverting away from said nip the current of air resulting from the removal by the scraper deflector of the moving layer of air entrained by the said roll surface.

The invention further comprises a roller mill as aforesaid in which there is a scraper deflector and a diverter associated with each roll of a pair, the two scraper deflectors and diverters coming to opposite sides of the approach to the nip of the rolls.

The invention further comprises a roller mill as aforesaid in which a scraper deflector and a diverter constitute a unit adjustable as such to suit the working conditions in the mill.

The invention further comprises a roller mill as aforesaid in which the scraper deflector and diverter unit is pivotally mounted in the mill and adjustable from the outside of the same.

Referring to the accompanying explanatory drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional elevation of a roller mill having the present invention incorporated therein in one convenient form.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged pictorial view of scraper deflectors applied to the rolls of a roller mill, with the means for feeding the materials removed by the scraper deflector towards the nip of the rolls, whilst deflecting away from said nip, the current of air removed from the rolls by the deflector.

2,991,019 Patented July 4, 1961 FIGURE 3.is a detail view drawn to a larger scale showing the construction of the scraper deflector and diverter element.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional plan view on the line H of FIGURE. 3;

In FIGURE 1 it will be seen that the roller mill comprises two pairs of cooperating grinding rolls a, b and c, d, to the nip of each pair of which cereal grain is delivered by the feed rollers e. The delivery from the grinding rollers is to the chutes f. The grinding rollers have as before indicated substantially smooth grinding surfaces.

A scraper deflector and diverter unit is fitted near the nip of each of the rolls e.g. a and b or c and d and each such unit comprises a scraper bar g (whose length is the same as that of the grinding roll with which it is associated) which is mounted in such a way that it lies parallel with the axis of its associated roll and can be adjusted to bring its scraping edge into contact with or very close proximity to the surface of the said roll, and a diverter element h carried from the scraper bar or its supports in such a manner that the air current and materials detached from the roll surface by the scraper bar are separated, the air being deflected away from the stream of materials entering the grinding nip as shown by the arrows i (FIGURE 2) and the detached materials being guided into such nip as shown by the arrows i.

As shown in FIGURE 3, the scraper bar g is made rigid with end cheek pieces k at each end of the diverter h, each of said check pieces k having a pivot pin extension m which projects through the side Wall n of the roller mill where it has secured thereon a slotted quadrant o with a screw p passing through the slot and having a winged nut q thereon to secure the slotted quadrant and so the associated scraper deflector and diverter unit in any desired position for their most efficient working. It will be appreciated that the degree of proximity of the scraper edge of the bar to the surface of its associated grinding roll may require to be adjusted for particular conditions of working.

The solid materials on the roll surface are removed by the scraper deflector g and redirected by the diverter h towards the nip of the rolls whilst air deflected from the roll surface by the same scraper deflector tends, due to the shape and position of the diverter h, to travel up the face of the said diverter and away from the nip.

The scraper bar may be made from metal or rigid plastic material or may be a composite unit of metal and plastic or metal and felt-like material or a brush element, any of which may be removably mounted so that it can be easily replaced when necessary.

I may employ various shapes or arrangements of scraper bar and diverter to ensure that air and material removed from the roll peripheral surface are diverted in the directions desired.

I may provide a scraper bar for one roll only of each pair or for each roll of a pair.

What I claim is:

1. In a roller mill for grinding cereals of the type including a pair of substantially smooth rolls providing a nip therebetween through which the cereal is passed, a scraper-diverter device operatively mounted with respect to each said roll on the approaching side of said nip, said scraper diverter being provided with a scraper part adapted to scrape adherent material from said roll, and a diverter part adapted to deflect air away from said roll after it has passed over said scraper part, and passage means between said scraper part and said diverter part through which the adherent material removed from said roll may pass to be introduced into said nip.

2. A scraper deflector means for a roller mill for grinding cereal products comprising a scraper blade adapted to extend across one grinding roll of a pair of grinding rolls and including a scraper edge to contact the roll surface at a short distance from the input side of the nip of the pair of rolls so that it will remove from the roll surface any ground materials adhering thereto, and diverter means beyond said scraper to divert a current of air flowing in the direction of motion of such removed materials away from the nip of the rolls,. said diverter means being spaced from said scraper to provide a pas- 10 sage between said scraper and said deflector means for passage of such removed materials, whereby said removed materials may again enter the nip of said rolls.

3. A roller mill as claimed in claim 2, in which the scraper blade and diverter constitute a unit adjustable as 15 such to suit the working conditions in the mill.

4. A roller mill as claimed in claim 3 in which the scraper blade and diverter unit is pivotally mounted on the mill and adjustable from the outside of the same.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 294,236 Holt Feb. 26, 1884 1,188,323 Richardson June 20, 1916 2,134,897 Theiner Nov. 1, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS 398,815 Germany July 18, 1924 640,357 France Mar. 26, 1928 

